Slow to start, Occupy Wall Street hits Miami

Since Occupy Wall Street began on Sept. 17, protests have sprouted from Boston to Los Angeles and Detroit. In Miami, it has been slow to start, but participants expect at least 500 to descend Saturday for a rally.

MIAMI _ With his khaki slacks, black button-up, and white tennis shoes, Phil Brinkman, a 54-year-old nurse and former Nixon supporter, is not your typical protestor.

Yet Brinkman, who lives in the middle-class suburb of Miami Springs, said he has watched his purchasing power plummet while his credit card interest rates spiral out of control.

“I just can’t afford things the way I used to,” Brinkman said.

So when he heard about Occupy Wall Street, an ongoing series of demonstrations in a New York City park, Brinkman scoured the web to find its Miami equivalent. Since it began on Sept. 17, protests have sprouted from Boston to Los Angeles and Detroit. In Miami, it has been slow to start, but participants expect at least 500 to descend Saturday for a rally at the Torch of Friendship on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami. In Fort Lauderdale, a similar group will start at the federal courthouse on Broward Boulevard at 11 a.m. Saturday.